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HARWICH – When Donald Herman took over as head football coach at Martha's Vineyard Regional High school in 1988, his team's first official victory that season came with a win over Cape Tech.

It was fittingly symmetrical that Herman's 200th career coaching victory came 23 years later in his team's 35-6 rout of the Crusaders on Saturday afternoon.

“It's nice,” said a Gatorade-splashed Herman, who still needs 12 more wins to reach 200 in his career at Martha's Vineyard.

“It's not something I do by myself,” he added. “I've had a lot of help, a lot of great players and a tremendous assistant coaches over the years. They're the ones that made it possible. I've just been along for the ride – and it's been a good ride.”

The Vineyarders fell short in giving Herman No. 200 last weekend, losing their first game of the season to a tough Somerset team. They left little doubt that they wouldn't suffer the same fate this week.

They reached the end zone on their first three drives, allowing Cape Tech just three total offensive plays – thwarting their drives on a Chris Costello interception and a Doug Andrade fumble recovery – before compiling a 21-0 lead against the host Crusaders.

Quarterback Randall Jette opened the scoring with a 34-yard jaunt less than three minutes into the first quarter.

Running back Brian Montambault, who racked up 65 yards on mainly short-yardage runs, punched in the Vineyarders' next two scores on runs of 4 and 1 yards, respectively.

Five plays into the second quarter, Jette hit TJ Vangervan streaking down the Cape Tech sideline for a 64-yard TD score and a commanding 28-0 lead the Vineyard rode into the half.

Jette, who finished 6-for-8 passing for 160 yards and rushed for 122 more, capped the Vineyarders' scoring just before the end of the third quarter. Forcing Cape Tech to punt with seven seconds left in the frame, Jette took the first play from scrimmage 39 yards, all the way to the house.

“Jette is a heck of a football player,” said Cape Tech coach Dave Currid. “You can't replicate that in practice... I had (quarterback) Malik (Lee) trying to replicate Jette and say ‘Hey, this is the kind of speed.'

“That's my fastest guy and we were trying to replicate it as best we could but still, you can do that all day long and you still say, ‘Woah.' That's how quick he is.”

The Crusaders had more luck moving the ball on the Vineyard in the second half, amassing minus-4 yards of offense before the break and 102 yards after it. Cape Tech finally broke through for a touchdown with 3:29 remaining in the game.

A 10-play, 65-yard drive, the Crusaders' longest of the day, was capped with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Lee to Keith Hannon. It was the lone bright spot of the day for Cape Tech, which despite the insurmountable lead, continued to play and hit hard.

“They didn't hang their heads,” Currid said. “It's an education ... They're not getting down, you can see that when, during the last three minutes, they're still trying to drive down and score.”